Chapter Twenty-Six

Shattered to Pieces

"8-Ball…" I muttered as I surveyed the damage done to him. His once pristine white suit was irreversibly stained a deep red that sparkled under the weak street lights. The helmet he wore had been cracked, exposing the top of his head. After a few moments, I slipped from Amy's touch and approached the injured hero, kneeling beside him.

"Explain," The hero ordered firmly and authoritatively as he reached into his pocket and retrieved a small metal disk that he then tossed onto the ground. "Don't look at that, look at me."

I tore my eyes away from the device as it started beeping and focused on the large number eight adorning his mask, trying my hardest not to look at the bleeding wound on his head.

"I…" I breathed as my lips started to tremble. What could I even say? Was there anything? I racked my brain trying to think of an excuse — anything that could even begin to remotely explain away a fraction of the night's events. But you don't just accidentally do what Amy and I did. It was clear that we knew exactly what we were doing.

"We were just—" Amy began, only to immediately be cut off by 8-Ball.

"Zip. It." 8-Ball commanded. "Emmet."

"You can't say anything about him," I finally blurted out, my lips trembling as I finished the sentence.

8-Ball paused.

"What?" He asked, incredulous. I took a moment to collect my thoughts and wrung my hands together.

"He'll kill me. He'll kill everyone I know," I pleaded.

"What are you—"

"I'll tell you everything," I told him as faint police sirens sounded in the distance. "I don't want anyone else to die."

8-Ball looked from me to Amy, then back to me.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked, now sounding confused. I breathed a sigh of relief and hung my head in shame as I explained the story up until now. I encountered Voss at my neighbor's house, he visited me in the hospital with a quirk for me to have, I refused and vowed to become a hero so I could stop him, and then things escalated from there.

"I know I'm just a kid," I continued as the sirens grew ever closer. "I thought I could do something about him. I'm not strong enough to beat him now — I wasn't even trying to. He wasn't supposed to be here, but he knew."

The police cars were just around the corner now, illuminating the three of us in their lights.

"He'll kill me if anyone finds out about him," I begged as three police cruisers and an ambulance ripped around the corner and skidded to a halt.

8-Ball paused to think.

"There was a villain attack related to your neighbor. You were just trying to make sure she was okay because she's a family friend. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time," 8-Ball said firmly as medical aid rushed to us.

I breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at the sky as an EMT approached me. They spoke to me, but I didn't hear their words. My head was filled with static and I was only vaguely aware that I was being spoken to.

The next hour was a blur. The clearest thing about it was that Amy never left my side. EMTs treated us, but we didn't have any injuries to speak of, so they handed us off to the police pretty quickly. Of course, because we were unlicensed and in costume using our — well, Amy's — quirk, we were shoved into the back of a squad car and left to sit in silence while the police wrapped everything up.

"Your mom's already at the station," A police officer half-grunted as he slammed the door, clearly upset that we were wasting his time.

I began to impatiently bounce my leg as my eyes darted back and forth, zipping from police officer to police officer, observing their confusion as they locked down the crime scene. After a while, one emerged from the house holding a small metal support item inside of a plastic evidence bag — my grappling hook. Something told me I wouldn't be getting it back anytime soon.

Great. I thought to myself. I could have cursed myself out for being so stupid, but I was mostly just hoping that Colin wouldn't be mad at me for losing it.

I let out a sigh as I leaned my head on the window of the police cruiser.

He knew.

Those words kept repeating in my head like a skipping record layered on top of itself fifty times. It was loud in a way I had never experienced before.

He knew.

He knew.

He knew.

He knew.

What else does he know?

I curled my toes as tight as I possibly could to avoid showing my frustration. The more I tried to shut my brain off, however, the louder that thought became.

Amy must have picked up on my anxiety because I was suddenly pulled out of my trance by her hand gently touching my leg. I jumped at the sensation and instinctively recoiled from her touch, immediately wincing when I noticed her flinch and shield herself.

"Sorry, I—" I stammered as I snapped back to reality. "I just…. Spaced."

"No, it's cool, it's just…" Her eyes darted over to my raised hand, which I immediately lowered and sat on.

"I should have been more careful," I breathed. "Of course he was keeping tabs on me."

Amy stayed silent but scooted closer to me. My body stiffened up in response.

"Yeah, well…." Amy trailed off. "Didn't die, though."

I scoffed but cracked a smile.

"Well, I guess when you put it like that," I joked, the tension in my body relieving even further. Amy gently put her hand back on my leg and patted me. A feeling of warmth radiated from her hand as tingles crept up my back and onto the back of my neck. My face got hot as I looked at her hand on my leg, which surprised me. I'd been used to Ri being very touchy recently, but something about this was different. I wasn't sure why Ri didn't make me feel like this. I liked her, didn't I? I blinked hard and forced myself to think other thoughts.

I suddenly realized that I was still sitting on my hand, which I slowly pulled free, brushing against Amy's thigh as I did. My face got even warmer. Not knowing what to do with her so close to me, I hung my head down and studied the details of her costume. Whoever had fabricated it did a fantastic job. There were no visible zippers or seams around the waist, though there must have been because otherwise, it would be a pain to get in and out of. There was no discoloration on the parts of the fabric that stretched most on her leg, not even where the blue parts of the costume met the green about halfway up her thigh. It was a different approach than what I had gone for, which made me picture myself in a similarly skintight suit — an amusing thought. I could never feel comfortable wearing something like that.

"What's funny?" Amy asked in a breathy voice. I must have let it slip that I was thinking of something funny. I half-smiled and looked at her, only to freeze up.

"I…." It sounds cliché but I was honestly lost looking in her eyes. Brilliant green. Even in the dim lighting of the police cruiser, they were as striking as ever. "Was thinking about how I'd look in your costume."

I kicked myself mentally for saying something I thought was so stupid. Nevertheless, Amy laughed.

"Not as cool as I'd look in your costume," She remarked.

"Cooler than I do in it," I gestured to myself. "Honestly, I feel kind of dorky."

That was true. My first, much simpler, costume made me feel a great deal more comfortable. All the armor plating on this one, while necessary, made me feel not only bulky but pretty lame. The maneuverability was also a step down — not that I got to use my first costume all that much, but I felt significantly weighed down in this one. I'd have to talk to Colin about shedding some of the weight.

Despite my doubts, Amy shook her head.

"It looks good," She paused before correcting herself. "You look good."

I opened my mouth but found no words as Amy laughed, seeming to revel in my awkwardness.

"So do you," I blurted out before immediately feeling a pit in my stomach grow. I wasn't allowed to say that to other girls when I had a girlfriend, was I? It didn't seem to faze Amy, but I immediately tried to word vomit and clarify my statement "I mean—"

Unfortunately, I was cut off by the sudden arrival of a cop.

Knock, knock!

I jumped about three inches in my seat as I whipped my head around to find a police officer rapping on the window with his knuckles as he opened the driver's door.

"Alright," He huffed as he slid into his seat. "Let's get this over with."

He grumpily threw the car into gear and we took off down the street toward the station. I didn't know it was possible to drive a car grumpily, but this guy pulled it off phenomenally. I'd get it if he was driving angrily but instead every movement he made had the same energy as a crotchety old man, which translated into the cars movement as well.

It was also a silent ride. The cop clearly didn't want anything to do with us, which was fair, but I would have at least enjoyed some music. Even a random talk show on an AM station would have been better than absolute silence interrupted occasionally by a grumble from the driver.

I was practically holding my breath for the entire ride. Not just because the cop's presence had me on edge and also not just because of how close Amy was to me. Maybe the second one was a pretty big part, but it was also because the sinking realization set in that I was about to face my mom.

It was a pretty big understatement to say that I was nervous to explain all of this to her. Although, in this context when I say explain I, of course, mean lie. I mean, it's just like 8-Ball said, right? I was just trying to see if Casey was okay. My mom would know better than that. She would immediately tell me that we had never spoken to the woman. She'd tell me that it wasn't like me to sneak out at night. She'd correctly spot my lies no matter what I told her. I was gonna be in trouble with the one woman who I should never lie to. And I didn't see a way to talk myself out of it even if I told the truth. What would even happen if I did? Would she be understanding yet cautious and tell me to be careful? Not likely.

On top of that, I had to face Brutus — though I decided that was a problem for future Emmet. For now, I cherished the time I had in the back of the police cruiser, grumpy cop and all. At least I got to spend that time with Amy.

One short drive later, we arrived at the police station where I could already spot my mom's car in the parking lot. It wasn't long before I spotted her on the stairs leading to the entrance talking to a police officer who pointed us out as we were pulling in. She whipped her head around and rushed to the car as the cop shifted us into park.

"Good luck," The police officer grunted as he stepped out of the car and roughly opened the rear passenger door. I took a deep breath and stepped out onto the asphalt of the parking lot with Amy as my mom sped over to us.

"Are you serious?" She hollered at me. I felt like I was shrinking back into a hermit crab shell as soon as the words hit my ears. I hunched my back and started fidgeting with my hands as she drew closer until eventually, she stopped about three feet away from me. "What were you thinking?"

"I promise you this was all my fault, I—" Amy spoke up, trying her hardest to deflect the blame off me. I knew it wouldn't work, though.

"I'm sorry — are you my son?" My mom snarked at her, which got my attention.

"Please don't talk to her like that," I said. My mom crossed her arms.

"You do not get to tell me what I can and cannot do right now. Not after the shit you pulled," My mom told me and aggressively pointed to her left. "Get in the car."

I glanced over and hung my head. I so badly wanted to put up a fight but I knew I would just end up embarrassing myself. So I slowly sauntered away.

"I'll see ya tomorrow," Amy called after me.

"Yeah," I grumbled as my mom scoffed and took off ahead of me, getting in the driver's seat and slamming her door. "See ya."

I reluctantly opened the passenger door of my mom's car and took a deep breath before I slid into the seat.

"I guess I'm not going back to school tonight, right?" I asked sheepishly after closing the door.

"Put your seatbelt on," My mom ordered as she threw the car into gear and reversed out of the parking space. I complied, obviously, and sunk back into the seat.

"Home, then?" I asked.

"Yes." My mom said flatly.

"You mad at me?" I asked. A dumb question.

"Where have you been the past — oh, I don't know — three, four months?" She answered my question with a question. I immediately realized just how stupid I had been. It was even more than I had thought. "You haven't called, you haven't texted, you haven't even posted anything on social media. Nathan asks me when you're gonna visit him every week and I have nothing to tell him."

I stayed silent for a moment. I hadn't given it much thought before, but she was right. I haven't talked to my mom since before Halloween. It was January.

"You didn't even reach out on Christmas, Emmet!" My mom exclaimed.

"I mean, you could've—" I stopped myself. That was probably the worst thing I could have said and I realized it before I even finished the sentence.

"Everybody I talked to said I should give you time," She continued. "Every mom on Facebook in that stupid support group for hero course students told me it's normal to go through this. That I should give you space because it's your first time being away from home. But then I get a call that you've had a run-in with a supervillain?!"

I clenched my jaw and looked down at my lap.

"Then when I talk to your teacher on the phone I find out that you got a concussion during a combat exercise? And you were stabbed?"

"I'm oka—" I began, only for my mom to cut me off this time.

"No, this is where you zip it!" My mom exploded. "What if you had died tonight? Then what? I don't find out until morning? Maybe I don't find out at all? It was a supervillain, Emmet. Who knows if anyone would have found your—"

She choked up a bit. I jumped in my seat and put my hand on her arm while she drove.

"I am not losing you." She said after she cleared her throat. After stopping at a red light, she pulled her hands off the wheels and wiped her eyes. "Losing your dad was already too much."

She thoughtfully rubbed her wedding band as she set her hands back on top of the steering wheel. I stared at the ring on her hand and exhaled heavily.

She was right, of course. It's not like I didn't know exactly how dangerous what I did was. And I, of course, wasn't going to argue with her on that. And, of course, she was right that I hadn't been in contact with her since October. That was… Let's just say it was particularly shitty.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled.

"Yeah, well, sorry doesn't cut it," My mom shrugged and took off at the green light. I slumped back in my seat and hung my head once again. "I'm taking you out of the school."

My head shot right back up as my heart immediately started pounding.

"What?!" I exclaimed in disbelief. "I'm sorry, please!"

"What do you expect me to do here?" She snapped back. "Did you think I'd just let you go back? What exactly did you think would happen?"

My mouth hung open as I started to hyperventilate.

Truth be told I actually didn't think of what would happen. The consequences hadn't even crossed my mind. I mean, sure, I knew she'd be mad at me but I never thought about what she'd do.

"I—I don't know, I just—" I stammered.

"That's exactly the problem, you didn't think about it." My mom told me.

"Please, mom," I begged. I didn't know exactly what I could say to convince her. I also didn't know exactly what I would do if I could convince her. Would I give up trying to stop Bloodshed? Would I have a choice? I didn't think it was likely that I could have another run-in with him anytime soon and come out unscathed. But honestly, that was the last thing on my mind at the time. At that moment, I was fully convinced that I could give up my pursuit of the villain. Something else was driving me to fight to stay at Pathfinder Alternative. "I don't want to go back to a normal school."

"This isn't about what you want, it's about what's safest for you," She said.

"Because I'm quirkless, right?" I spat, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Yes, actually!" My mom hollered. "I don't know why you think I'm trying to play coy about this, it is one hundred percent because you don't have powers! I shouldn't have let you go in the first place."

My heart sank.

"Is that what you told dad?" I asked as the tears began to roll down my face uncontrollably like someone turned on a faucet.

"You are not going to guilt trip me here!" She barked. "Just because he went and got himself killed doesn't mean you have to."

I opened my mouth, ready to yell something back, but I immediately lost my train of thought. I could tell my mom had a slip of the tongue because her eyes went as wide as saucers.

"What?" I managed to squeak out. My mom gulped and gripped the steering wheel so hard her knuckles turned white. But she stayed silent. "What do you mean he got himself killed?"

The gears were already spinning in my head before she answered.

"I never talked to you about it," She said solemnly.

"What did he do?" I pushed.

She sighed.

"He was killed by a villain." She said flatly. I stayed silent, tears continuing to stream down my face. "He said he was gonna go for a walk one night to clear his head. And then the next morning he was found wearing a hero costume in a park nearby. He was acting as a vigilante without me knowing. And he left us behind."

I leaned back in my seat and put my hands on my head to try my best and process what I just learned.

"Why did you let me apply?" I asked.

She stayed silent.

"Because I didn't think you'd get accepted." She said, shamefully. My heart sank even further. "When you were offered a spot in the alternative school I couldn't just tell you that you couldn't go, though. So I just supported you. I hadn't seen you so excited for anything since you were a kid. But not even that joy on your face justifies you almost dying tonight."

I wiped my eyes and stared forward at the road ahead.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I croaked.

"Because you loved heroes," My mom said. "I couldn't tell you your dad was killed trying to be what you wanted most. And I couldn't tell you that you might end up like him."

At this point, I was pretty resigned to the fact that I lost the right to argue. I was going to be nobody again. Useless Emmet. I'd probably have to break up with Ri. I'd likely fall out of touch with my classmates as they stayed busy. I'd fall out of touch with Amy. How would I even break the news to everyone?

I stayed silent until we pulled up to our house and parked on the street.

"Do I have to go to the school closest to us?" I asked through tears as I unbuckled my seatbelt.

"Yes, Emm—" My mom sighed.

"I don't want to see Deacon," I demanded. "Everyone there knows I went to a hero school. If they see me again they'll know I failed."

My mom thought for a moment.

"We'll figure something out." She said.

I shoved my head into my hands.

"I have friends now," I sobbed. "Real friends. I have a girlfriend. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you. I thought that if I worked really hard I could — I thought I could catch up. I'm so sorry."

I sniffled and tried to wipe the tears away. They came as fast as I could get rid of them. I went stiff as I felt my mom wrap her arms around me.

"I know," She whispered. "I am, too."

I sobbed in her arms like I was seven years old again and I had been knocked down at the playground. And I didn't stop for what felt like all night. Though it had probably only been about five minutes. By the end of it, I was out of breath and probably dehydrated.

"Let's get you in the house," My mom said softly. As she ran her hands through my hair. "You should shower. You smell."

"Yeah…" I grumbled as I stepped out of the car and shuffled into the house I hadn't been in for about five months. It was painfully obvious, too. The place was not only spotless but it was rearranged. No trace of the cups I leave behind or the spills I don't clean properly. No laundry that I ignored lying anywhere. It didn't feel like my house. I averted my eyes from the living room that reminded me of my absence and trudged up the stairs to head to my room, which was exactly how I remembered it.

I sat on my old bed and put my head in my hands as I tried to wrap my head around everything. My dad was a vigilante who was killed by a villain. I would have to give up on becoming a hero. I'd lose all the real friends I made for the first time in my life. None of it felt real. It didn't feel like I was present and experiencing it. The tears stopped flowing in the car and it felt unlikely they'd return.

Instead of trying to force myself to cry more, I started to shed my costume. My boots were a particular pain to get off since I hadn't fully broken them in yet. Another reminder of how early I had messed everything up. Next, I removed the armor plating from the bodysuit before tugging at the zipper around my waist to slip out of the thing. I tossed everything into a heap in the corner of my room and grabbed a pair of pajama pants from my dresser, deciding to skip the shower and force myself to sleep. My newly formed headache was only partly the reason. Mostly, though, I was just tired. Tired of being awake.

All men are not created equal.

Whoever said that was right.

I wake up from hibernation once again to drop a new chapter. I am actually very proud of this chapter because I've been trying to stretch my writing muscles and write with a bit more personality. And if any of you felt that the story was kind of ignoring Emmet's mom I hope this pleases you. I'm nervous about how the characterization in this chapter will be received but I hope I did a good job making you sympathize with the characters. I'm actively working on the next chapter and while I can't promise a release date I'm committed to finishing the story. It will come out. Please remember to review if you enjoy the chapter or even if you didn't, I'm really looking forward to seeing what people think about this one.